


shallow waters, purple mountains

by RikkiKikki



Category: One Piece
Genre: Family Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Genderfluid Character, Growing Up, Mentions of Eating Disorder, Minor Character Death, Original character focused, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Self-Insert, Tags May Change, forgot that one, loving family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-15 12:00:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29683641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RikkiKikki/pseuds/RikkiKikki
Summary: A 18 year old university student is abruptly placed inside One Piece world, years before start of story. Luckily, he's not anyone of great import-Then shit happens.SI/OC
Relationships: Original Characters & Original Characters, Portgas D. Rouge & Original Characters
Comments: 12
Kudos: 42





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Uh. This is. A Thing. That I wrote, i guess?
> 
> I had fun, so i hope you'll have fun reading it too
> 
> warnings for: the character mentions feeling hungry and eating disorders a few times. And it starts with an anxiety attack, so beware! also (forgot) this was initially a fic to explore my gender identity, which after i decided go "*shrug* im a boy." it changed focus.
> 
> other than that, this is mostly fluff so far.

She has no idea what the fuck is going on. She woke up in an unknown room, and it only got more confusing as time unveiled.

She’s so small and clumsy and they keep calling her- that’s not her language, and this is not her home, her mom is nowhere to be seen, and-

Hot, fat tears flow down her cheeks and she digs her nails into her palms in an attempt for her panic to not turn into vomiting. The woman who is not mom rushes to her from the other room, crunching down, and asks her why she is crying. It sounding so foreign yet so familiar makes her cry more, and she loses the battle of wills and turns to the floor, vomiting.

She tries to slap the woman away from herself, but she’s too weak to succeed, and she craves comfort, even if it comes from a stranger. The woman takes her to a bathroom, cleaning her, muttering comforting words and about bad food and not wearing socks, and it almost makes her smile.

She’s then taken to the room she got out of. She feels bad seeing the vomit on the floor on the hallway. She created a mess. Imposing on the stranger. The stranger tucks her into the accursed bed she woke up in, and she starts crying again. She’s calmer now, though, crying slower, too tired, stomach empty to vomit. The woman goes away to presumably clean the vomit. It reminds her of her mom, and she cries a bit harder. Soon she starts to doze off, and only barely notices the woman coming back. There are hands caressing her hair. It is nice. She understands the language, and knows the woman is chanting a nice lullaby about mom being here.

 _I wish she was,_ she thinks, and falls asleep.

xx

She wakes up into darkness, hungry. And needing to pee.

Be careful to not wake up the child sleeping on the bed next to one she slept in, she pads around the house. There is light coming under the door of a room down the hallway, and she goes there. She’s about to open the door when she hears the soft murmur of conversation.

“Rikki…” the woman is saying, but she can’t hear the rest of- that’s a name of hers, but not _the_ name. She uses it on internet- why- how does the woman know it? Even most of her real life friends don’t know it-

She realizes she left the door to go to the next door. She’d rather not know, at least not right now. She’d need to steady herself. It is the bathroom, which she was already been earlier. She flicks the lights open, walking to toilet. She doesn’t know about food, but she can at least handle the other pressing need.

Which turns into another surprise. Because that is-

A dick.

Between her legs.

 _What the fuck?!_ She barely holds her screech, and-

How did this happen? Why has she a dick? How?

Taking a deep breath, she tries to take stock. No Vomiting Round Two. She went to sleep last night, as per usual. Coast was clear. Woke up in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room in an unfamiliar house- and everything tumbled down from there. She had more pressing matters at hand to notice she wasn’t in possession of a vagina anymore. She had noticed-

She looks at the mirror she’s been avoiding.

The face that looks back belongs to a child. A boy child. A six year old? Five? She’s not gotten a clue in aging kids. But she is possessing this body. She’s in a child’s body.

Hysterically, she thinks of all the stories she read of a protagonist waking up in a different world, in a different body. That can’t be what’s happening to her, right? She started doing drugs. Hallucinogens. Never mind that she doesn’t have any idea how to get the “good stuff”. This is the explanation. She’s hallucinating all this shit, and she’ll get back to herself and reality soon.

What kind of fucked up fever dream is this?

 _Oh boy oh boy this will be a wild tale to tell when I woke up. I got so high I dreamed a whole-ass alternate reality. Top that, bitches,_ she imagines typing on the chat. Rambling about the strange woman and how kind she’s been and wow dream-people are interesting- She’ll remember this for a while, because shit is weird as fuck, and she will never ever do drugs again and then eventually she’ll forget about it. She has shit memory. She’ll remember and reminisce about it a few years later.

She nods to herself. She sits on the toilet, goes for it, and experiences what she always was curious about: peeing from a penis. Curiosity and bladder sated, she flushes and cleans her hands. Everything has been going well until her stomach grumbles, and she realizes how hungry she’s been. The old sickly thought of counting hours since-

She cuts it off.

Taking a stock of herself, she’s too hungry and rested to be able to go back to sleep. She’ll go crazy if she sits in the dark without a phone to distract herself and hungry, so she has to go to the woman to ask for food. She can’t cook in her own house; she won’t even try in this alternate reality shit.

It takes some courage to knock on the door –which still has the light under, to the relief of strangers didn’t go to bed or something while she had a freak-out and toilet experience- but she manages.

“Yes? Come in!” calls a low voice- it belongs to a man, she thinks, then cuts herself. Did you just assume the gender, she asks herself, a bit hysterical, since she herself is technically a ‘boy’ now. She goes inside, not really wanting to follow that train of thought.

The room is well furnished, lovely. It’s a bedroom, with a double bed. The ‘man’ and ‘woman’ are cuddling in bed together.

“Oh, Rikki.” says the ‘woman’. “How do you feel now, honey? Is your tummy sick again?” They pat the bed, in clear invitation. Well, cuddling is nice. She hugs the ‘man’, who gathers her in between the two. It is very, very nice.

“Can I have food?” she asks after a while. Her stomach has growled again, and she’s sure they heard it.

It must be late at night, they’re obviously about to sleep etcetera, and she expects them to huff and deny her. She can suck it up, forcing herself to sleep. She’s good at ignoring hunger. “Of course, dear.” Says the ‘woman’. She feels surprised when her shoulders drop, if only because she didn’t realize she was this tense in first place. Asking for food when it’s inconvenient for the other party is hard. She’s glad she has a nice hallucination ‘mom’.

The ‘man’ moves to get up “you go to sleep, love. I’ll feed him.” ‘He’ manhandles her into his hip, and-

She is having emotions about this. She clutches the hallucination-‘dad’ shirt, and cuddles closer. He walks them to the kitchen, and puts her down into a kitchen chair. Gets a pot from the fridge, and says “Since you slept through dinner, let’s warm up your portion.” He puts it on the stove.

They are a ‘family’ of four, she thinks. The parent duo, the kid sharing a room with her, and herself.

The ‘dad’ sits down in front of her, singing a song. “Yohohoho, Yohohoho…”

She recognizes it-

That’s fucking _Bink’s Sake._

The guy is singing Bink’s Sake!

“Are you an One Piece fan?” She rushes to ask.

The man stops singing. “What?” he says in a flat tone. “Rikki.” He sighs. “Don’t tell me you’ve gotten into those playing pirate games too.”

That’s a weird way to-

“ _Ahahahaha._ ” She makes this ugly laughing noise. You _don’t tell me, that-_

“Hey,” she starts- “Is Gold Roger the pirate king around here or-“

“What a weird child,” the man in front of her says, fondly. “He was the pirate king, and he was _executed,_ boy. You know that. That’s what happens to pirates. It is _not_ an exciting game to play.” He stares at her, straight to her soul, probably, but-

“Am I-“

She cuts it off.

The man clears his throat. “No, you’re not being scolded. I know it is _popular_ now to play pirates, what with-“ he cuts himself, sighing. “I just get worried, kiddo.”

Yeahyeahyeahyeah she’s not asking about-

Is she fucking-

“Where do we live? Like which Blue?”

He’ll say a normal ass country she knows-

“Where are all those strange questions coming from?” The man asks, gently and lightly. He pokes between her eyebrows. “We live in South Blue, of course. Our island is called Baterilla.”

Waiiiit. Waiiit. Relax. Relax. Relax.

That’s Ace’s birthplace.

Oooh. Okay, okay, okay! She smoked some shit, did some drugs or something –which she doesn’t remember doing, but to be honest it makes the most sense-, and now she’s dreaming a very elaborate dream about One Piece. Okay. That makes sense. Ace is one of her favorites. She _has_ story-dreams _without_ doing drugs, it’s not uncommon.

Everything is solved now. She breathes out, relaxed. “Thanks!”

She can play that out.

She can even write all this down when she wakes up, and it’ll be fun.

She happily gorges on the meal, enjoying being able to eat what she normally can’t, and then lets the ‘dad’ guy tuck her into the bed, expecting to wake up in a normal, real world.

xx

That doesn’t happen.

She wakes up, day after day, in this strange place-

She is called Rikki, treated like a boy, and has an ‘older brother’, Kavi. The boy is nice if not a very standard example of boys aged 7-8, too energetic and a bit rough. Her ‘parents’ are nice. They indulge their ‘children’.

But-

They can’t go outside.

Even going to the garden is frowned by them- Her ‘mom’ is a housewife, and her ‘dad’ has some kind of a job, going early in morning, arriving not so late.

She’s confused and mad- as mad as her brother is, complaining loudly about seeing his friends or going to school- then she remembers- Gol D. Roger was executed. They’re living in Baterilla. She has zero ways to gather information about what’s going outside, but from the information she has-

The Marines are probably “examining” all pregnant women and newborns and-

Probably even older children as well.

Going outside is _dangerous._

What happens if she dies in this weirdly insistent, solid dream? She doesn’t want to find out. She doesn’t object to being shut down inside, and reigns in her ‘brother’ back when he tries to sneak off while their ‘mom’ is busy.

One particular night, she listens to Kavi’s breaths even out, and in a truly miraculous example of sneakiness (the first time, she didn’t really care if he’d wake, so it didn’t count) successfully gets out of room without rousing him.

The parents are talking again.

They talk about her recent changed behavior, about the ‘dad’s work, Kavi’s trouble with being stuck inside- then it shifts into why he has to be stuck inside.

“The Marines are insane!” ‘dad’ rants, “All those women, Tern-“ He bites off. “Can’t fucking believe…” he adds, quieter.

She really doesn’t want to continue listening to this. She verified what she needed to verify: the marines are still searching for Gol D. Roger’s child. Portgas D. Rouge hasn’t given birth yet. She and the kid sleeping soundly in the other room can be in danger. So is every other young child, newborn and pregnant women in South Blue.

She walks back to the kids’ room. Gets in her bed. Can she-

Ace was a beloved character. But his whole existence had started with a problem, and ended in a problem. Too many characters died for him. Because of him, as awful as it sounds.

What is two people’s life worth weighted against countless nameless others?

She closes her eyes, and tries to sleep. It doesn’t even matter because all of this isn’t real. Those aren’t real people dying. What does she need to do? Nothing. She just needs to wait until she wakes up.

It still leaves a bad taste in her mouth.

xx

Next day, her ‘mom’ sits her down on the table, spreading empty papers and pencils. Kavi is sitting on the other side, sulking and trying to read a thin book that ‘their’ mom assigned as homework. “Let’s teach you how to read.”

There are two sets of alphabet in this world, she learns, which she actually knew, latin alphabet and the japanese writing system, not called those names, though. And they aren’t used separately either, a confusing mix of two. The only saving grace is she knows how to read both, and she’s never been more glad to have taken japanese classes.

She also learns her name isn’t spelled like “Rikki”- but “Ricky.” Her name in this strange dream is Estellan Ricky.

Her ‘mom’ is impressed with her talent with reading. She pats Ricky’s head, and asks, teasingly, “Do we have a future scholar here?” Well, that was something she wanted to do once upon a time, so she nods and says: “I’m gonna be!”

Kavi grumbles about what a nerd she is and reading is boring, but she ignores him. So what if she’s very good at something adjusted for a 5 year old? She’s _good_ at it and it’s what matters.

Then the door knocks. Her ‘mom’ tenses, glancing at the door.

“Isn’t this early for dad to arrive, mom?” asks Kavi, obvious to her tension.

“It’s not your dad.” She replies. “Kids, go to your room.”

Ricky doesn’t let Kavi argue, taking hold of his hand, and going to their room. At least he doesn’t protest, not so obvious probably. Smart kid.

The front door opens. There are footsteps, and a voice that belongs to a man. Their mom is speaking, but they cannot hear what she’s saying. The man speaks again.

“Kids!” Their mom yells. “Come here!” Ricky glances at Kavi, and he glances back. He shrugs. Kavi reaches out and takes her hand as she opens the door, uncharacteristically. She squeezes his hand, Ricky is the adult here, she needs to provide comfort. And also needs the closeness herself too, to be honest.

There are two Marines in the living room. One of them has a sword as tall as Ricky, the other a _rifle_ as tall as Ricky. They look unhappy. She gulps.

“The birth documents?” sword-guy asks. Their ‘mom’ ruffles through the drawer, and finds some documents easily. “Here,” she says, extending them to the officier.

“Hmm. Estellan Kavi. Born March 26, seven years ago, to Estellan Henry and Tern. In a ship called ‘Green Winds’ headed to Baterilla.”

Tern nods. “Yes.” She doesn’t offer any more explanation, and the man frowns. “Are you associated with pirates?”

What does he expect her to say? “Oh yeah, I come from Grand Line, fucked Gold Roger seven years and nine months ago? We even had threesomes!” Ridiculous, and Ricky has to keep herself from scoffing. Keep her expression from souring.

“Green Winds is a merchant ship, which trades through South Blue. It’s Captain is an old friend, and let us hitch a ride for this island.”

“Why did you and your husband ‘hitch a ride’-” she can feel the quote-unquote marks in the air -”In Green Winds?”

Tern does not look like she wants to answer one bit. She glances down at ‘her’ children, then back at the marines. She clears her throat before speaking. “My husband came from a rich merchant family, but I was a humble teacher. Our incomes did not match, and his family objected to it. We decided to have a clean start here with our baby.” She puts her hand on Kavi’s head, gently patting it. ‘Her’ brother leans into the touch.

The marines question her further- like how far along she was when they embarked, how long the journey took, did they plan to live on other islands, who was the midwife, are they still in touch with the crew, are they in touch with her husband’s family, where are immigration papers-

Ricky learns a lot about her ‘family’.

Then the marines start to question Kavi- does he go to school, who are his friends, his grades, has he ever seen strange men- pirates- around, what games he likes to play- He’s scared. He gives short answers, and the marines drill and drill and ask for details and explanations and- 

Her ‘dad’ arrives before they move on to question her. His hair is a mess and there’s dust on his clothes, sweat on his face.

“And you are?” the marine asks.

‘Dad’ gives a quick glance to Tern, then replies “I am Estellan Henry.”

“Hmmmm.” the marine says. “You look a lot like your children, Estellan.”

“Thanks.” Henry says, unsure. His eyes are wild and wary.

“Your younger child?”

Tern gives the marine another document.

“Estellan Ricky. Born June Fifteenth, five years old.” The man reads aloud. “On Baterilla General Hospital.” He looks at her for a moment. “Isn’t he kind of small for his age?”

“I’m not short!” she yells.

You can hear a pin drop.

- _shefuckedupshesgonnadieoh_ **_Fuck_ **-

The marine raises an eyebrow. “Spirited.” he says. He proceeds on questioning every single thing she’s ever did-

Which- 

_She doesn’t know._ She’s only been in this body for what- a few weeks? Her mind feels strange-

If she fails, if what she says doesn’t match-

They might as well justs shoot her now-

She answers the questions in a daze, her clear-er mind in a far away place but on the edge of a chair, panic not far away- but she answers them. Her ‘family’ do not raise eyebrows or object or- she isn’t out character, then-

She _succeeds_.

The marines leave eventually, after some other rounds of drilling them. But nobody gets killed. It is enough. It is enough, their ‘family’ is safe-

She didn’t get them killed.

She breathes in. Holds back her scream. She breathes out.

xx

That night, she stays up. Her ‘family’ had a celebratory big meal. They laughed a lot and talked and- celebrated that they were safe.

She was silent, not really in there. They noticed, but didn’t push. 

Ricky has a lot to think.

So she gathers a bunch of papers from the day’s interrupted writing lesson, and sits on the table. She always thinks better when she can write it down.

 _Today was dangerous._ She writes down.

 _Was it really?_ What proof does she really have the marines kill babies and pregnant women? A manga she read, and her ‘dad’s cryptic words which she didn’t bother to listen further. She frowns. She should operate on the worst case scenario. She can’t afford not to be.

 _What could happen if things didn’t go the way they did?_ They could be arrested. Executed. Do DNA tests exist in this world? Do they have Gol D. Roger’s DNA? Another unknown. Doubtful.

 _I no longer think this is a hallucination._ She writes down every letter carefully, trying to make them look as straight as possible. Somehow, she opened her eyes in this world. All of this is real. She is a five year old boy now.

 _What is the game plan?_ Act like she is the five year old boy her ‘family’ think she is. Try to accept them as family. Gain strength. She has to be strong. The fuck is gonna happen in 20 years. The waters will be chanced. And. Isn’t the Golden Age of Pirates a dangerous era, for civilians?Not just pirates. What keeps marines from just burning islands left and right? Ohara existed. The whole existence of “Buster Calls” is too dangerous. She can’t afford to be an ordinary civilian. Today was proof enough.

 _Does the gender change bother me?_ She frowns. She’s in a five year old’s body, only interacting with three people. She hasn’t needed to think about this hard so far. Her only concern is peeing, which can happen without problems, thankfully. But it will not stay that way. This body will enter puberty in less than ten years, and she’ll be a part of society, which will assume she’s a man. There’s Emperio Ivankov and their devil fruit. But also, she always thought she’d be fine being a man too. 

She decides on this: This Is Fine. If it bothers me, I will pursue One Piece world’s equivalent of hormone therapy.

So: Act like a boy. Think of yourself as a boy. _Be_ Estellan Ricky- not the person you first were born as.

The newly titled he closes his eyes for a moment. What else is left? What should he do?

There is nothing else he can think of. Time will tell.

xx

Time does pass. The marines leave the island a few months later, and their parents take them out to eat at a fancy dinner for celebration. It’s the first time he goes out, and it’s exciting. Baterilla is so different from what she’s used to, so colorful, and foreign.

A part of him is sad- she misses home.

The food is good at least, and the whole getting reborn inside a manga has the plus effect of getting rid of much of her eating disorder. He wouldn’t have expected the biggest thorn on his side would just go poof like that, but he’ll not look a gift horse in the mouth.

They go for ice cream afterwards, the children tucked in between the parents. Henry has his hand on Kavi’s shoulder to keep him from running around, and Tern holds his hand tightly. Ricky notices there’s not many children, especially younger children, out. That might be because it’s late. It might be because-

He cuts himself out. It’s supposed to be a nice evening. An evening to see the island he’s living now. A camera would be nice. She used to like taking photos. Didn’t have much of a chance for a few years before slipping into a fucking manga world, but that was a hobby.

“Dad?” He asks. “How do you take photographs?”

“By kameko den den mushi.” Dad answers, “What, you want to take photos now?”

“Are they cheap? Can we buy a kameko?”

“Daaaad! Moooooooom! Let’s buy a kameko! Photographs are so cooooooooooooool!” Buts in Kavi, eyes wide open in an attempt of puppy eyes.

Tern, mouth hidden by her hand, laughs. “Alright then.”

They go home, chattering and laughing, light hearted.

 _Bed o’clock,_ thinks Ricky, taking his shoes off at the entrance. After washing his hands off of melted ice cream, he’ll go to bed. Sleep then wake up- he’ll pester Dad to buy the Kameko soon-

“Kids!” call out their mom, from the living room. “Come here for a moment.”

Ricky and Kavi glance at each other. Kavi shrugs and goes back. His brother is the brave sort. Their parents are holding hands and smiling at each other, which, while cute, does not really answer questions. “Mom?” he asks.

“Kavi. Ricky.” starts their mom. “I’m pregnant.”

Ricky’s eyes almost pop out of her sockets, and-

“We’re gonna get a brother?” burst in Kavi, smile big on his face. “Another baby brother! Awesome!!”

 _She_ never felt an emotion like this.

She never had siblings before- His brother came already existing and being a bothersome seven year old- There is- life inside their mom, who will grow into a person. A sibling. A child. 

Her mind is blown.

“It might be a girl too,” says Henry, laughing, “You might get a baby sister instead.”

“Girls are gross!” objects Kavi. He crosses his arms, pouting. “But if she’s gonna be my sister, she _might_ not be gross.” He admits, hesitantly, looking away. Tern chuckles, and pats his head.

But also- she feels a witch sweeping away all the mind-blowing wonder and turning it into anger. They just had overpowered authority supported group of military onto every fucking pregnant woman and babies and here she is just after the marines- telling, she’s pregnant.

It can get them killed!

“Is this really a good time for that?”

“For what?” asks Henry, a frown starting to form on his face.

“For… you know, to get pregnant? What about-” He cuts himself off.

“Ah.” says Tern, after an awkward pause. Kavi, to his left, looks scared. Ricky reaches to hold his hand, and he gives a squeeze back.

“Certainly,” she starts again, “there could be better timing, but.”

“It is safe now.” Henry says, with a certainty to his voice, giving it a hard edge. Ricky feels defensive- like he’s scolding- “The marines decided that- They left Baterilla, Ricky.”

“The schools will reopen soon.” Adds Tern. “Normally, I’d start working too, but, guess it’ll take some time before I can.”

Kavi makes some noise about schools and classes and homework, and Henry says something about being able to play with his friends again, but Ricky isn’t listening closely.

It should be safe. 

Ricky really, really, doesn’t want anything to happen to this little family. It doesn’t truly feel like it's _his_ family, per se, but he’s come to care for them. That’s enough to make him care.

“Okay then.” he mutters. He wishes them a good night, and goes to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so thats it for the first chapter! hope you liked it :D


	2. Chapter 2

Dad takes him and Kavi to buy a Kameko, which turns into _two_ Kameko’s as a small scuffle breaks out in the shop because Kavi has bad taste in den den mushi and can’t see which one is _clearly_ the cutest. It’s clearly the best outcome possible, because now he can hog the cutest Kameko and claim it as his own without feeling guilty.

Life changes.

They can go outside now. Kavi introduces him to his friends. They’re predictably all boys, loud and rough personalities.

With family members as chaperones, he travels the island, taking pictures and getting himself familiar. Mom, as he started to call her inside his mind too, starts going out less. Who does which chore changes too, Kavi and Henry have more now, and she rests more. When he looks for them, the signs are obvious that she’s pregnant, and he feels stupid for not having noticed things like her nausea and vomitting before. Or maybe she’d been hiding those signs before she announced she was pregnant?

At least the signs are not yet as drastic as a huge belly or “crying by hair trigger” type of things. He’s not sure the last part is not a myth, because his mom is very rational so far.

He meets Portgas D. Rouge on a late summer morning.

Kavi begged off some pocket money from Mom, and they’re on their way to his favorite candy shop. Ricky has a sweet tooth, which carried over from the former world, but not enough to have a favorite candy shop. He’s more interested in the fact candy shops are a thing in Baterilla, enough to have several ones, hence the _favorite_ part.

Then a watermelon quite literally rolls over towards them. Kavi acts quick, catching the watermelon and stopping its roaring rampage. They stare at each other.

“Boys!” calls someone a second later. A lady is… not exactly running but power walking towards them. “Thanks for catching my watermelon!” she says as she comes close. “It just- slipped off my hands, and next I know it’s running away like-” She huffs, putting her hands on her hips.

“It’s… interesting.” Ricky says, not knowing what else to say.

“No problem, lady!” adds Kavi. “Wait, are you pregnant?” he then asks, abruptly. “You have a belly!” He points at the woman’s belly, which does have a small bump.

“Kavi!” Ricky says, sharply, “I’m so sorry, lady, my brother is big mouthed-”

“Our mom is pregnant too!” His idiot brother keeps talking-

The lady blinks, her hands going towards her bump, which might or might not be a baby- “Oh yeah!” She says, smiling widely. “I’m pregnant!”

“Congratulations!” They say in union.

Kavi gasps. “We can’t let a pregnant lady carry a watermelon!” he says. “It’s too heavy!”

Ricky knows where this is going.

“I’ll carry the watermelon for you!” He continues, proudly sticking out his chest, an expression he must think firm and heroic on his face, which just makes him look stupid and goofy, actually.

A good bro has his bro’s back, though. “Yeah!” He nods. “We will help!” And possibly getting murdered by pregnant strangers aren’t on his to do list, but, the watermelon is _big_. It’s probably bad for the baby for her to carry weight. 

The pregnant lady laughs. “Aren’t you two little dashing heroes? Thanks, boys, but I can’t possibly bother you-”

“It’s not bothering us!” Kavi interrupts.

“It would bother us more knowing you’re exerting yourself!” Ricky adds. 

She hums. Makes a show of putting her hand on her chin and thinking of it, her mouth pouting. She is _very pretty,_ actually. “Alright then!” She says. “It _is_ heavy, I think three of us can barely carry it together!”

He feels like she just protested so she could say she did protest. Well, it’s fine. He thinks he’s ok getting murdered by a pretty pregnant woman. Kavi can run away while he gets murdered. And she looks gentle and kind so it's not like she’s _surely_ a murderer. 

They chat lightheartedly, about the fact that school will start a week later, on the first Monday of September. Ricky will start school, Kavi will be in third grade. She’s five months pregnant, she’ll give birth in late december or early january. It’s a boy, she found out in her last doctor’s appointment.

“Oh, by the way, my name is Portgas D. Rouge, boys.” The woman says as they enter her home. Ricky is glad it’s Kavi’s turn to carry the watermelon, because he’d drop it on his feet.

 _She_ is the reason marines have been-

“We should leave.” he says.

Kavi glances at him, mouth opening to object, but the woman speaks first. “Not to keep you longer, but have some cookies first.”

“Cookies!” Kavi says, grinning. “Cookies, cookies!”

Rouge laughs, nudging them inside. “I baked them this morning, but made too much! If it weren’t for you two dashing heroes, rescuing my watermelon, where would I find mouths to eat these cookies?”

Ricky wants to yank his brother away-

He doesn’t want to eat her damn cookies.

It smells sweet and delicious inside, and the small house is very homely. He bites into the cookie his brother gives him. It is as delicious as it smells. “Your cookies are very good.” He says, at last, he won’t be rude. He takes another, ignoring the brother who’s acting like he didn’t eat anything for the past week, wolfing down cookie after cookie.

Portgas D. Rouge looks at them fondly, nibbling on a cookie herself. The watermelon rests on a corner.

They can and should go now.

Associating with this woman is dangerous.

She stands up, goes to the fridge and pours two glasses of milk. “It won’t do you two any good dryly eating them.”

He takes a sip of the milk. Drips another cookie on the milk- and yeah, it’s good. It is delicious. Kavi makes wet noises as he slurps his own glass of milk, muttering something like “delicious, delicious!” His brother might have a bigger sweet tooth than he does. 

Kavi pats his stomach fondly after drinking the last of his milk. “Rouge-san, thank you!”

Ricky finds it in himself to grin, “Now we don’t have space to eat candy. I’m full with Rouge-san’s cookies.”

“We can save our pocket money!” Kavi adds.

“Glad to have served you boys with my cookies then,” she says playfully, “you saved my watermelon after all.”

Kavi continues to make small talk with her, which Ricky doesn’t add his input much. His focus is brought back sharply when his brother asks where her husband is.

“Kavi!” he says, tone sharp. “That’s rude!”

Kavi’s eyes widen, and he looks cute, Ricky thinks fondly, “I’m sorry!”

“I don’t mind.” Rouge says, “We’re just chatting.” Her face… looks a bit blank, though. Ricky wouldn’t notice it, probably, if he wasn’t looking for it. She clears her throat, forcing a smile. “I don’t have a husband.”

She pats her belly gently, “This one’s dad was a sailor.” she continues, “We met on the sea. I stopped sailing when i got pregnant, and settled down here.”

“What happened to him?” Ricky asks, despite himself. Will she say he was a pirate? _The_ pirate, literally.

Rouge waves her hand. “Him?” She snorts, rolling her eyes. “I don’t care what happened to him, as far as I know, he’s still sailing around.” She sounds lighthearted, like she truly doesn’t care.

 _It’s not like my ability of reading people is that great,_ he thinks. What did the manga say about Rouge? Did she care about Roger? What if the baby is not even Roger’s and actually some random sailors? Can he base what people feel on a _shounen manga_ of all things, when as far as he knows, now, this is all real and those are actual people? 

From what he gathered so far, she loves the baby inside her. _And that’s as far as I know,_ he concludes.

He will not make judgements based on a comic book he once read.

“We still need to go.” He reminds Kavi, “There’s the football match you were gonna be the keeper, remember?”

“Ah!” his brother, predictably, jumps up! “I’m gonna be late!”

The match is scheduled for afternoon, and it’s still a few hours before lunch. Kavi is not good with time, though, and Ricky wants out.

“Have fun, boys!” Rouge says as she sees them out. She looks a bit saddened, like she wanted them to stay longer. “I hope your team wins, Kavi.”

Kavi nods eagerly. “Of course we’ll win! We’re the best!”

Rouge’s pretty laugh chimes as they run away.

xx

School is stupid, Estellan Ricky decides two hours in. The children are rough, loud and snotty and the teacher acts as if he’s a brainless fish and ewww, they’re all crying because mommies and daddies left the classroom.

Ricky already knows how to read both alphabets and do basic and somewhat advanced math too, from his previous life. He doesn’t need to learn anything they’re teaching the first years.

He finds Kavi in the second break, unsurprisingly the center of his play group, most of which Ricky met in summer. Since he's the brother of the group’s leader he’s allowed in, despite being a firstie. 

Running around trying to tag or kick other kids is fun- and he’s not as _delicate_ as she was, doesn’t cry as easily. He scrapes his knees, which makes his brother, who might’ve taken “take care of your younger brother” a bit too seriously, stop the game and take him to the nurse’s.

“I won’t cry!” he says firmly, chin up. He might be pouting. “I’ll definitely not cry! Nope!”

“Of course not!” Kavi replies, “but you know it’s ok to cry. Mom says so!”

The nurse laughs and pats their heads. “This might sting a bit, Ricky-kun.” she says gently, as she cleans his knees of dirt.

It hurts, yeah, but he does _not_ cry. The nurse gives him a candy afterwards, and they rush to their respective classrooms.

The recs was fun, but the class is as boring as watching paint dry. Actually, watching paint dry might even be more interesting.

Maybe he can use this new life to cultivate a healthy relationship with school? Since he knows almost everything they’re taught, he can just enjoy the ride? If the teacher is a shout-happy shitty adult like some of her teachers had been, he can backtalk and be a cool kid she previously envied and was kinda afraid of. He remembers wishing to go back in time and shittalk her shitty teachers, and this is kind of a wish come true?

 _Damn,_ he thinks. _I didn’t rub a lamp but the genie still did shit._

Kavi is equally unhappy with school. “I hate this stupid homework!” he says, tossing the worksheets across the room. “I already know it, why should I-” he makes a frustrated noise, clutching his arms.

Mom gives some standard reply about why homework is important -which Ricky calls bullsit- while he goes to collect the tossed worksheets from the ground. “I’ll help you with it, nii-chan.” he says.

He was a university student once upon a time, and knows firsthand how hard it sometimes is to do “simple” homework.

Kavi grumbles something about being older and helping _him_ instead, which Ricky hums to, patting his brother’s arm. 3rd grader math is still boring, but it's still better than seeing his own homework consisting of “2+2=?” questions.

 _Do universities exist here?_ If getting into one is anything like how it went in his previous life, he doesn’t think his mental health will survive that, honestly.

Kavi grumbles a “Thanks.” as they finish his homework. He tried his best to not simply give the answers, but he didn’t need to, anyway. His brother is pretty smart and quick-witted. 

Ricky looks at his own homework, which he wants to facepalm because those are coloring exercises, eugh. Actual coloring exercises, why. “Kaviiiiiii.” he whines. “Help me color these, please.”

His brother is really the best brother, he grabs a color pencil and does just that.

The school experience gets better only after he discovers the school library. The books are all children’ literature, but at least they’re books. Something to pass time. He also starts drawing.

His current skill is sadly nowhere near what he was once capable of. He wanted to get good at art, and now he has to relearn everything, with underdeveloped muscles and hand-eye coordination, no less. 

It is frustrating, to say it mildly.

“Oh, Ricky-kun!” says the girl on his left, her name starts with S or something, but he didn’t bother with learning names. “your drawing is amazing!”

“Thanks.” he mutters absent-mindedly.

“Can you draw me?” she says.

“Nope.”

The girl gasps and mutters about him being rude, but he’s sadly not of sort to mind what a random 6 year old says about him.

The girl moves away a few moments later after getting no recognition from him.

He continues his best attempt to draw Big Mom and what he remembers of her children- which, considering real life still looks like _real life_ and One Piece manga was very caricatured, he doesn’t think he’s doing 3D Katakuri much justice. And Charlotte Katakuri is actually a _real_ person now, what the fuck? What will he look like? How does his powers work-

He had an existential crisis a few weeks ago, and he hopes he’ll never have to meet any of One Piece characters. He has no idea what he’d do if he was inserted into a character, or his family existed of characters.

He’s glad his life is so simple and nice. He doesn’t need to go on extremes for survival. He has indoor plumbing and electricity, a loving, middle class family. He can still have a simple, comfortable life. Ricky’s won the transmigration lottery.

“Hey you!” says someone loudly just by his ear, making him jump from his seat. The intruder slaps his hand on the desk.

He frowns at the boy. “What?”

“You’re very rude-”

“ _You’re_ rude.” he interrupts.

The boy ignores him, continuing to rant, “-you upset Sparrow-chan, and you’re snooty, you never talk to any of us-”

“So what?”

A few kids are looking at them, several nodding along to the boy’s points.

“So stop acting like this!”

“Yeah!” says the girl from earlier. Are her eyes red? Oh they are, he feels a bid bad- “Why didn’t you draw me-”

All his sympathy is off the window now.

“I don’t _have_ to draw you, or be friends with any of you!” he says, arms crossed. “You’re all small children!” He says. Only small kid he likes for extended amounts of time is his brother. Certainly not any of those dumbasses.

“I bet you don’t even know my name!” the kid shouts. “You’re just being rude! Nobody wants to be your partner in class-”

Well, right, he doesn’t. And he might be a bit rude-

“It’s not like I want to be in this class! It’s too dumb! It’s for babies!” He says, defensively. He should be kind to the children, probably, but frankly he doesn’t think he has the capacity to be kind.

It’s boring to the point of frustration. He’s going _insane_.

The girl says something, but he doesn’t listen- he jumps on top of the boy, and throws a punch for the first time in his existence.

xx

Tern stares at him.

He stares back.

He doesn’t know what to be more upset about:

The fact that he attacked a six year old, or the fact that he attacked a six year old and _lost_? 

“Ricky.” she starts. Her hand is on her belly. She’s gonna give birth in a few weeks. It’s a girl. They’re planning to name her Merlin. Which is a cool, if a bit surreal a name. They said nothing about King Arthur, so he supposes the whole folklore part didn’t carry over.

They’re waiting inside the principal’s room. Tern asked to talk to him for a bit before, and her boss concessed easily enough. The boy’s guardian’s not yet here anyway.

His mom shifts closer. “Ricky,” she says again, sighing a little. He feels bad. She’s easily tired nowadays, and he made her come all the way to school. “Why did you start a fight?”

He picks at the band-aid on his cheek. “I’m frustrated.” he says after a while, when he realizes she’s waiting for an answer. “It’s too boring, mom.” 

“The classes?” she asks for confirmation. She doesn’t look too surprised. A bit resigned.

He nods, not knowing what to say.

Ricky attacked a child. Over something so stupid. He didn’t mean to, probably, he doesn’t know if he decided to, or did just that- and doesn’t know what’s worse either. He’s supposed to be an adult. Inside a child’s body. But still an adult, and he should have the emotional maturity to- _not_ do that.

“It’s still not-”

“I know!” he shouts, interrupting her, then immediately looks at the principal’s door. The elderly man has not stepped outside to glare at him, which is a relief. He’s scary. Has a big scar crossing his nose.

Tern sighs again, which makes him feel guilty. He’s behaving so shittily. “We’ll talk about it later.” She says, then opens her arms. “Come hug me.” Cuddling with Tern is nice. He used to cuddle a lot with his first mom.

The boy, with his dad finds them like that, hugging each other. Tern’s hand cording through his red hair. The man glares at them, and Ricky can see the resemblance. “Your son has your glare, sir.” he says.

Tern stiffens, which makes him tense for a moment before he realizes she’s trying not to laugh. He grins.

The man glares harder. “I see you’re as rude as Leeward says.”

Oooooh, so that’s the boy’s name. He nods. Which he probably shouldn’t have done.

Leeward’s dad scoffs, sitting on the couch Ricky emptied, his son eagerly following. 

He glances at them, then glances at Tern. She raises an eyebrow, all motherly. He presses his lips and-

It’s physically paining him to do this. “I’m sorry.” he says, quickly, then buries his head on her shoulder.

Leeward gasps. “You _can_ say sorry?”

What kind of question is that- “Of course I can say sorry!” Ricky says, breaking free of his mom, crossing his arms. “But I’m _only_ sorry for attacking you!” he clarifies. “ _That_ was rude of me.”

“Only- Hey! You’re rude _all the time_ -”

The door opens, the principal stepping in. It makes the boy- _Leeward_ cut off quickly. Mentally an adult or not, Ricky is as scared of the principal as he is.

The following talk Ricky mentally blocks as soon as it’s done, other than noting he’s now forbidden from going to recs for two weeks, Leeward for three days. Not so bad. Being a firstie has it’s perks, because he doesn’t think Kavi would get away that easily.

Mom shoos him away, saying she’ll talk to Mr. Becket.

Ricky steps outside, trying to decide if he can get away with listening to the door or not. Leeward looks back at him as he walks away with his dad. Ricky does not think he can. Also he’s, as far as he knows, suspended from school for the rest of the day, so.

He goes to the library. Mom would know to look for him there, and if not her, then _Kavi_ would. Some escape from social interactions to the wonderfully comforting world of written things don’t sound half bad.

Mom finds him there some time later. She waits as he checks in with the librarian, borrowing the book he’s been reading.

Kavi waves distractedly at them as they pass him on the yard, running after a friend of his.

He’d like to shut himself inside their room, continuing to read the book he started, but he knows he’s been too much of a dick today. Instead he goes to the kitchen with Tern, helping her make lunch. He sets the table as she sits down.

“I talked with Mr. Becket.” she says after lunch. “He says he’ll allow you to skip a few grades.”

He blinks. “What?”

She tilts her head to the side, looking bird-ishly. “Do you want to?”

He nods the hardest he’s ever nodded. “Of course! I want to! Mom, _please_!”

Tern smiles, “Okay then. Study hard, the exam will be next week.”

The week passes in a blur, he reads book after book, for a flimsy excuse of “studying the language!”, which his teachers allow him to. Probably because he won’t be their problem in a week or two.

There’s no way he’s gonna _fail_ an exam made for _elementary schoolers_ . He even knows a lot of kanji, from reading books! Overconfidence did, in fact, fuck him over a few times in exams, in his previous life, but he aces the worksheets and prep-exams Tern makes, so Ricky is very very sure he’s not being overconfident _this time_.

Kavi is very enthusiastic about his little brother skipping grades, at least. “You’re so smart, Ricky!” he cheers him on. That feels good. He loves his brother, obnoxious energetic prat or not. “Skip to third grade, let’s be classmates!”

That, he’s not sure how to reply. He wants to skip as many grades as he can, so he might skip third grade too. He nods politely, letting his brother rest his head on his shoulder. It’s kind of heavy, but Ricky knows he’ll get bored and fidget away soon enough. And physical contact is always nice, anyway.

“You’re really smart,” numbles Kavi some time later. To Ricky’s surprise, he didn’t fidget and run away, but instead spread lower, cuddling into his stomach. He’d been motionless for long enough Ricky thought he’d fallen asleep. “‘m glad we’re brothers.” 

“You’re plenty smart yourself,” Ricky hums, patting his arm. “Same.”

“I’m gonna be a good nii-chan to Merlin too.” His brother declares, soft yet firm.

“Rouge-san says I can be nii-chan to her baby too.”

That makes him tense. “You kept in touch?”

His brother nods, sleepily. “Her cakes and cookies are very good. I take some for you too, remember?” He hasn’t noticed Ricky tensing. He does remember some cookies and cake that his brother gave him, but he thought-

“Didn’t you buy these from a bakery or-”

“Nah,” Kavi says cheerfully, like he’s not probably dooming them, “Rouge-san is the best baker ever, bakery’s cookies wouldn’t be as tasty!” 

The _fucking_ glutton. “Kaaaaavi.” he groans.

“What?” he replies, a bit defensively, sensing Ricky’s displeasure for the first time. “I gave you some!”

“That’s not the problem here, nii-chan!” he says, maybe a bit sharply.

Kavi gets up, looking at him all confused. “Then what’s the problem, Ricky?”

He stops for a second, gathers his thoughts. Associating with Portgas D. Rouge _is_ dangerous, or is it, actually? Would _they_ kill anyone and everyone who’s just said hello to the woman while passing the street? Kavi is _just a kid_ -

But the marines are-

There’s a thing called _Absolute Justice_. Akainu. Rob Lucci. Names that are getting blurry, but a part of her mind that refuses to forget, warns it.

 _They_ are not above extreme measures. There was a whole arc about- _Nico Robin_ . Right now, she’s _just a kid too_. Even the same age as Kavi. And she has a 80 million bounty on her head, just for existing and having knowledge they deemed she shouldn’t have had.

Saying “Existing is not a crime!” is pretty and all, but it won’t save their ass. There won’t be any Monkey D. Luffyies deciding to save them on a whim, if the marines and the secret agents come after them.

They will simply die.

But what can he do? That ship has sailed a long time ago. He’s been eating the woman’s cookies for _months_ at this point.

“Sometimes, adults can be… _dangerous._ ” he says after a while. “She doesn’t touch you-”

Kavi makes a sharp noise. “Of course not! Rouge-san is a good person!” He exclaims.

He nods. “Alright then. But-”

“No buts!"

“But,” Ricky says again, pointedly, moving his face away from his brother’s hand- “I’ll be there for you-” He shrieks as Kavi jumps on top of him, yelling “I’m holding a book!”

“I don’t care!”

“I borrowed this book from the library!”

 _“I don’t care_!”

The ensued roughhousing doesn’t end badly for the book, at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaand this is end of the second chapter!   
> im currently writing i think the end of third chapter or beginning of the fourth, so updates might have more of a time between them as i'll reach the end of what i wrote so far, but dont worry, im very invested in this story and want to write a lot  
> pls tell me you liked it! *craves validation*
> 
> you can follow my mess of tumblr at rikkikikki


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